Gifts & Cards for Garden Centres Garden variety

Garden centres are now destinations for a day out - allowing plenty of time for shoppers to browse cards and gifts. Greetings

Today talks to suppliers about the garden centre trade…

With garden centres evolving and offering more cards and gifts, we wondered whether our suppliers were experiencing an increase in demand from this sector.

Sue Morrish, director at The Eco-friendly Card Co, says that eco products are definitely in demand: ‘’The Eco-friendly Card Co has found it’s gained a lot of new garden centre stockists who are looking for environmentally responsible/recycled products for their eco-conscious customers. Anything with a bee on (our precious pollinators!) is especially popular.’’

And card publisher Cherry Orchard has seen a similar rise in popularity, says owner Jackie Collins: ‘’Cherry Orchard Publishing has always been proud to be supplying independent shops nationwide for over 28 years but the team has really seen an insurgence of new customers coming from garden centres and farm shops. Many garden centres upped their proposition during Covid in departments such as greeting cards and giftware and could really see the boom on this retail side of their business.’’

So what ranges do well in garden centres?

At Rush Design, designer Lorraine Bradley says: ‘’While some garden centres are destinations for card buying, it is more usual that cards are a secondary purchase while visiting for other reasons like buying a new plant or going for lunch. As a result, our garden centre customers do extremely well with our bestselling captions and designs.’’

And Sue Morrish adds: ‘’The Wildlife Trusts range of cards and stationery from The Eco-friendly Card Co is perfect for garden and wildlife lovers alike! The Henries shortlisted range features fascinating information about the species depicted, for example how to encourage hedgehogs into your garden or how bees can see UV light. As well as a wide selection of greeting cards available showcasing the very best of British wildlife we also offer notecard stationery, charity Christmas card packs and a stunning 2024 calendar. The FSC certified, 100% recycled cards come individually wrapped in compostable bags or available with card-clasp labels. A new brochure featuring the whole collection is available on request. (01626 369269 www.ecofriendly.cards)

She adds that if a centre only has room for one thing from its range - ‘’Get a spinner of cards! It has such a small footprint but can hold over £1,000 worth of product at retail. Popular with garden centres, we offer 64 pocket stands to display our diverse collections of art and photographic cards.’’

Finally, what trends might we see in the sector?

At home fragrance specialist Best Kept Secrets, managing director Vanessa Curry says it’s time to get set for the colder months: ‘’For Autumn/Winter specifically, consumers are always drawn to our slightly heavier, muskier, and warmer scents, so we have developed new scents to meet these seasonal trends. This year we have our new Fireside & Cypress, Black Rose & Amber and White Flowers & Cashmere which also tick the boxes of what customers love at this time of year.”

And Sue Morrish at The Eco-friendly Card Co concludes: ‘’Eco and recycled products are especially popular as are any products featuring bees!’’